Love my Bose Series 1 901's powered by PS Audio - Bring On The Haters (1 Viewer)

[joe goswami]

I haven't posted in a very long time but I've been a member since Oct. 2001 ! I the last year I got rid of my cones and domes Homebrew and experimented with Bose. Honestly, I would never pay retail for a pair of 901's but I got a bargain last year on a pair ($350 - cabinets were shot). After getting custom acrylic panels, having the Tulip stands powder coated, and getting rid of the God awful grille cloth, they look and sound awesome. I bought a Series 2 EQ off of eBay for $100 and gutted it completely. Using all "Audiophile Grade" compnents and a Toroidal Transformer to feed it and the XLR adapters boards, the 901's are all highs, nice mids, and deep Bass down to 40Hz with slight attenuation in room at 30Hz. A Bose F1 Subwoofer hits 20Hz with in room gain with ease. A 151se for the Center Channel (might be getting a single Series 2 to replace it. Two Bose 251's for the RR, & RL. Sounds amazing. The Eq is the secret sauce. When rebuilt correctly, they make beautiful music. Two PS Audio m700 monoblocks power the whole thing along with their Gain Cell DAC (SGCD)/Preamp. A sony UBP-X1000ES is my Disc Transport and Hi Resolution music player/streamer. A Sony STR-DN1080 contrills everything 5.1 balanced outputs that I tapped off of the fully balanced audio connections on the HDMI PCB inthe the Sony AVR.

Show me love !

 

[Nelson Au]

Interesting project. I know that Bose speakers are polarizing. I’ve been contemplating for over a year and a half of trying to either find a pair of shot 901’s series I or II and refinish the cabinets but gut the interior or use the cabinets as reference to build new cabinets that look like 901’s and use a traditional 2 or three way driver set-up. Also pick up the tulip stands. The idea is to get the retro mid century look of the speakers.

 

[joe goswami]

My latest addition and EQ rebuild with all surface mount resistors and SoniCaps (input and EQ filter paths) and Solen capacitors (because I had them and were begging for a reuse). It’s configured for True Balanced single channel operation.

My advice. Get a pair of Series 1 or Series 2 Speakers and seek out a working or non working Series 2 EQ. Contact DHS Speakers (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Bose-800-802-901-Equalizer-Repair-Upgrade-Service-/330633737926) and have him rebuild your EQ. I rebuild my own based on his recommendations. Sweet highs, nice mids, and deep bass...it must be Bose. Don’t gut them and experiment. You be severely disappointed.

 

[Sam Posten]

Bose speakers in wooden cabinets are fine. Bose speakers in plastic cabinets are what deservedly get a bad rap.

 

[theJman]

Bose speakers in wooden cabinets are fine. Bose speakers in plastic cabinets are what deservedly get a bad rap.

Agreed, I don't think the 901's were ever sneered at. They were thought of highly by most; innovative, unique and possessing good quality sound. Expensive is perhaps the only negative.

 

[RobertR]

Agreed, I don't think the 901's were ever sneered at. They were thought of highly by most; innovative, unique and possessing good quality sound.

"Were" is the relevant term. The 901s came out over 50 years ago. Few people are impressed with them today.

From Wikipedia:

A review of the 901 by Stereophile magazine in 1979 concluded:

If we were to judge the 901 in terms of the best sound available, then, we would say that it produces a more realistic semblance of natural ambience than any other speaker system, but we would characterize it as unexceptional in all other respects. It is ideal for rock enthusiasts to whom sheer sonic impact is of paramount importance, and for classical listeners who want the next best thing to ambient stereo without the cost and the bother of rear-channel add-ons. However, we doubt that the 901 will appeal to perfectionists who have developed a taste for subtleties of detail and timbre.